Betting point spread, lines, over/under – week 9, Seahawks +2 at Cardinals

The line on the sole NFC West intra-divisional game looks like so:

Seattle Seahawks +2 at Arizona Cardinals, over/under 48½ points

The question – possibly rhetorical – is this:

Why would NFLbets ever stop betting the Seattle Seahawks right now?

On pure aesthetics and storylines, the Seahawks are irresistible. Selling high on their franchise quarterback (not to mention apparently entirely crushing the trade) and subbing in a guy who’d started five games for four different teams in the past six seasons. The sometimes disgruntled wide receivers have been gruntle-free this season while Rashard Penny has become a more than viable RB at a whopping 6.1 yards per carry. Better yet for old-school football lovers, Penny’s partnering in the backfield with Kenneth Walker III who’s good for 5.4 ypc; altogether, the Seahwaks’ have the third-most efficient running game in the NFL, behind only the (surprise, surprise) Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears.

As for the defense, the picture isn’t quite as rosy – this is no Legion of Boom 2.0. Seattle is quite the outlier in a couple of statistical measures, however; more on these shortly.

In terms of history between the teams, the Pete Carroll Era – since 2010 – has seen the Seahawks win to a 15-9-1 SU/13-11-1 ATS against Cardinals teams of varying quality. Rather more compelling is the Carroll-headed Seahawks in Arizona: An impressive 8-3-1 SU/7-4-1 ATS. That’s not a huge sample size, but a .708 winning percentage against the coach’s entire 13-year run with Seattle of .619 is interesting…

Versus Kingsbury ‘n’ Murray’s Cardinals, Carroll’s Seahawks are 4-3 AU/ATS, with five of the seven games hitting the under on over/unders. The Seahawks won SU/ATS the earlier meeting between the teams in 2022, 19-9.

Since allowing 30.8 per game through the first five, the opposition – beginning with the Cardinals game – has been reduced to an average 15.0 ppg. The Seahawks D aren’t world-beaters yet, but after being torched in succession by the Falcons, Lions and Saints, they’re finally managing not to hemorrhage yards and points.

O, and those outlier stats. Seattle has run up 14 turnovers, good for sixth in the league; the progression of turnovers has insanely gone 2, 0, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, and 2. The defense will get their two turnovers and NFLbets is fairly confident that, combined with an edge in coaching, should well be enough. The truth is these Cardinals are chaotic, and you just can’t side with chaos when looking to make a profit. You may not necessarily win this one, but betting Seattle will be more fun. Take the Seattle Seahawks +2 at Arizona. Even better, you can take Seattle on the ML at +105.

– written by Os Davis